Monday, October 24, 2016

Last week was the third annual Los Angeles Plein Air Festival, with more than 100 artists drawing and painting the city's historic downtown core for 5 days. I hadn't participated in this before, but decided I wasn't going to miss it this time!

I was asked by Celia of Raw Materials Art Supplies (the producer of this great event) several weeks before if I'd like to do a watercolor demo using Daniel Smith watercolors...and I thought, "sure, why not?!" I chose the Downtown Farmers Market, the last day of the Festival for my demo.

Daniel Smith very generously supplied me with my "wish list" for a good basic palette plus some of their completely unique colors, like Moonglow, Buff Titanium and the lovely Primatek mineral colors. I'm fast becoming a very big Daniel Smith fan! I had plenty to share with anyone who wanted to try some of these colors at the demo...

This was different from anything I've done before...much more informal than a workshop, and given the venue, I thought I might have a variety of people coming and going, not to mention the general bustle of the market. So, I started visiting the Sunday morning market in advance...first to just walk around and get a feel for the place...observe the light, the flow of people, architecture--the whole "vibe"!

My first thumbnails in monotone...
studying the light and deciding the best vantage points...thinking of what to include. I believe selection is perhaps the most important aspect of the sketch!

I made sketches from the "quiet" end of the market...with a view of flower vendors and shoppers. A nice view, but I decided a liked the "big picture", so found a spot at the busy intersection at the center of the market where I could see the way the vendor stalls nestle in the canyon between buildings, and people crossing the street.

I added the palette to my color study, since that's a question that always comes up!

On the morning of the demo, I set up in my favorite (shady) spot, trying to stay out of the way of passers-by with and without carts, wheelchairs, walkers and strollers. Here are couple of pictures from the location. Again, the all-important question of what to include, what to focus on!

I knew I wanted to focus on the market itself, and let the environment of the buildings be somewhat secondary. I liked the deep morning shadows as well...

I planned to do a second demo from a different vantage point, but I noticed how different the light was by late morning...and the market was busier with people--so that became my subject for the second demo. At right is the work in progress--I like to compose with light and shadows first...

Below is the finished sketch...

I also loved spending time at this site in the weeks before the LA Plein Air festival, just sitting on my stool sketching. I met interesting people, like the artist who brought his portraits to show me, and offered to let me use his easel...or the man who offered me a discerning critique and said "you wouldn't know it to look at me, but I'm homeless--I live at the shelter down the street". All kinds of people live alongside each other in LA's downtown core.

Here's the Daniel Smith color palette I had that day...including many of my new favorite colors! Everyone seemed to be especially interested in the colors that granulate with surprising hues, like Cascade Green and Moonglow...

I especially like the "Lunar" colors with their heavy granulation, as well as the array of Quinacridone colors that are beautiful mixers.

During the Festival I also visited City Hall to sketch from the Observation Deck on the 27th floor--wonderful views of the city! I made a quick ink and watercolor sketch looking northeast towards Pasadena...

I'd never seen Frank Gehry's Disney Concert Hall from a vantage point like this, and just had to take the challenge of all those wonderfully abstract reflective surfaces...

What a great event this was...I'm already looking forward to next year!

Saturday, October 15, 2016

I've tried to make sketching a daily practice for some time now...why? Well, sketching is a bit addictive...I enjoy putting marks on paper whenever possible, but also just like recording something of where I am every day. Sometimes I go to a place with the intention to draw it, but more often than not, the subject of my drawing is just where I happen to be that day, and what's going on around me.

I like to think that drawing every day makes me more observant, and keeps the connection between eye, heart and hand stronger and more immediate.

More often than not, these daily sketches include people...

Drawing in a clinic waiting room, or at the Social Security office (a place that seemed designed for human discomfort)

One of my favorite places in Los Angeles is the Grand Central Market downtown...yes, it's changing all the time, with less of the old vendors and atmosphere and more upscale eateries, but still a fun and fascinating place to visit and draw...

Madcapra for falafel, the view on Broadway, G&B coffee bar with a view of Hill Street, and midweek view inside...

At Exposition Park, I sketch the whale skeleton at the Natural History Museum, and the Space Shuttle Endeavor at the California Science Center, but it's important to me to include the human presence, the human scale here...

A five-minute wait in line is enough for me to pull out the sketchbook! I like drawing people at work...

At our newly opened local Sprouts Market....

I love the classic red and yellow
of In and Out Burger...

Testing colors at Image nail salon in Pasadena...

My yellow car treated to the occasional car wash...

People at the Rose Cafe in Venice...

More every-day stuff...

Breakfast on Father's Day...and an ordinary day at Jones Coffee in Pasadena...

Waiting for coffee, or waiting at the bank, I think of waiting as an opportunity...

Monday, October 10, 2016

...is an easy train ride away from Los Angeles...but such a different world! I've visited there several times lately, to sketch not just the beautiful, graceful Mission, but also the area around the train station, which feels like a quiet, unhurried small town...

These are the ruins of the "Great Stone Church" on a bright August day...built in Roman style, and only lasted a few years before tumbling in a major earthquake...I was transported to Italy that morning...

One of the long corridors that line the central courtyard...

A last quick sketch before leaving Mission San Juan Capistrano that afternoon...

Some quick vignettes at the Mission, and over lunch...

A last view of the the train station before leaving...

Sketching on the train..

And, then a return trip in September with my sketching friends Shiho Nakaza, John Banh and Chris Ruiz-Velasco...

Some thumbnails at the Mission mixing water-soluble chalk and gouache...

...and watercolor...

A final sketch at the Mission...the mystery of the entrance...feeling a bit like a time portal somehow. I was struck by the words of the doorway, "RESURGAM". I had to look it up to discover it means "I shall rise again"...

Some last sketches that day, over lunch and waiting for the train to take us back to Los Angeles...